Starring:
Date: January 27, 2012
Summary:
Issei and Ryo are sent on a last minute mission to Kusagakure to assassinate a rogue.
Poster's note: Profanity filtered in obvious places.
"Emergency Mission"
In and around Kusagakuri
Valley of Grass [Land of Grass]
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The vally of grass is just that. A vast area of green can be seen. Tall trees provide shade all around the large body of water that seems to rest in the middle of the valley. The water itself is a bit murky. A few mossy boulders sit jutting out over the shore of the water. Almost at any given time large herds of game that pass by stop here to quinch their thirst. Though, sadly this also draws a lot of bloodshed and death among the food chain. A few scattered bones can be seen here and there. In a tree just over the water is a large rope that hangs down below. Seems someone had made camp here and decided to have a bit of fun. Setting up camp here also provides a breath taking view of the rocky areas that rise in the distance.
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Contents:
The mission: Uchiha Issei,
Reports have come in that Taka Tsorae, formerly of Kirigakure has been gathering forces in Kusagakure. He is a small scale rogue shinobi. Our forces are currently occupied. You may select any shinobi from Konoha currently in Sunagakure with exception of those in the exam. You are to leave no later than sunset tonight.
Due to the nature of this mission, discretion is your top priority. Locate Tsorae and eliminate his forces.
Uchiha Issei looked at the mission statement folder, reading over the paper a few times before imprinting the name in the back of his head. He pondered for a moment, whom to take for the mission, and only one name came to mind. He crumpled up the paper, and then threw it in the air, before blowing hot embers at it, and disintegrating it into charred ashes.
He would go look for Uchiha Ryo, and offer to bring him along, before heading towards Kusagakure, with or without him.
Ryo was not too hard to find. The boy had been in the training fields. He was working on several jutsu including the one with the hot embers that Issei had recently taught him. Of course he jumped at the idea of going on a mission. "So what are the details of the mission?" the boy asked. He was not even sure if he was allowed to know.
Issei looks to Ryo and grins, "Well, you just beat up some guys. That's it, I'll do the tough stuff. Alright?" Issei explained to Ryo carefully, already wrapping his shoulders and head with a light scarfs to shield him from the sun, and possibly conceal his features.
Ryo nodded his head. "That sounds simple enough." The boy himself had gotten a hooded cloak to cover his own features from the sun in Sunagakure. He was ready to go. The boy glanced around the training fields before looking for Issei. "Lead the way." He was not sure exactly where they were going or how they were getting there.
"Alright, I got some provisions, we're going to the Land of Grass. I hope you like grass." Issei says, and with that, he hands Ryo a small backpack, himself carrying nothing, meaning, Ryo is the packmule, heads off towards Kusagakure.
The boy puts the backpack on. While Ryo was not happy about being the packmule, he was not going to complain. "Grass. Grass is good. That means water and maybe even trees… and no sand for as long as the eye can see… grass is good." The boy glanced around once more as if giving a mental finger to the village of Sunagakure. Oh how he could not wait to get to the land of Grass. "Maybe when I take the chuunin exam, it could be in the land of grass." It almost appeared the land of grass might be his new favorite country, just so long as it was not Sunagakure.
"Oy, you know that sand and dirt are almost the same. And grass has lots of dirt. Before you notice your boots will be so deep in mud you'll just wish to be back where there is only maintenance free sand. Unless it gets in your boots. Ah wax, no place like home." Issei finally admitted. "But grass is better than sand. Aye. Grass is good. I like grass." He looks to Ryo, "You are a bit early for the Chuunin Exams. But hey, I got Chuunin at 10. Perhaps you can outdo me."
When the two arrived on the outskirts of Kusagakure…
Ryo follows behind Issei, still carrying the backpack he was given back in Sunagakure. "Grass. I love grass. Grass is good." the boy states. There is no idea how long he has been going on about the grass. There is still a big smile on his face. "So, where are these guys that need beating up?" the boy asks. There was not a whole lot in the local area, just lots of grass.
"We're looking for some guy that probably acts tough and all and is trying to raise some sort of force. But the problem is, we need to be discrete." Issei looks to Ryo and ponders for a moment, "Remove anything that symbolizes you as Uchiha, and put your forehead protector where it can't be seen. We're just villagers now. Until we find this guy, who is from Kirigakure." Issei says as he puts the forehead protector around his arm, and wraps his scarf over it.
The boy removes his jacket leaving a normal shirt. He then takes off his forehead protector and places it in his pocket. "Alright, so a tough guy. Where would we find a tough guy in the land of grass? If he was trying to raise a force, I doubt he would be able to get actual shinobi. You think he would be taking in rogues and failures?" Ryo asked.
"I don't know. Perhaps." Issei ponders the questions. "There aren't many rogues and failures that are powerful enough to stand against two Uchiha though. Otherwise they'd be hunted down already. Probably." He grins, "But yeah, if we see someone followed around by thugs or something, that's probably our guy. His name is Taka Tsorae."
Ryo stops for a moment before he speaks. "Why not just pretend we're rogue shinobi or some kind of bandits. If we draw some attention, we might be recruited. Then they would take us to their leader, right?" the boy asked. "If he is strong enough, he could manage to get some rogues. If people failed for lack of discipline, they might look for a mentor. Easy pickings…"
"I thought about that." He looks to Ryo, "But are you sure you can handle that?" Issei asked as he looked towards Kusagakure. "It might become dangerous, especially if he finds out the truth about us." He ponders for a moment and then sighs, "Yeah, I suppose that's our best choice. I'm counting on you, Ryo. Kotobuki Ryo and Kotobuki Issei. You're my little brother." He says and shoves Ryo lightly with his shoulder.
Ryo nods his head. "I can handle it. Kotobuki. Sounds good." The boy then moves his hand to the hilt of his blade. "Lets go beat some people up big brother." The boy then looks towards the road. He was pretty sure they were now going to be heading into the village.
This was his first trip to the land of Grass and other than Sunagakure, he had never really been in another shinobi village. Sure this was not exactly one of the major five, but two foreign villages in a matter of a few days was a record. Knowledge like this would surely help him in the future.
Issei walks alongside Ryo, oddly silent for once as he looks around the surroundings, considering perhaps the lay of the land, or simply good ambush spots. Or something else entirely. He seems focused on the task to the point that he suddenly realizes the distaste in the idea. "At least let's find some bad guy to beat up." He says.
Ryo laughed slightly as Issei made the correction to the idea. "Thats why your the big brother." the boy says in slight gest. He had never meant to beat up innocent people. Then again if the people they were sent to beat up were still semi innocent, it did not matter. A mission was a mission.
"Hai, hai. Big brother's got this covered. Let's go look for some thugs to kick the sparkle out of with some nice Ninjutsu. Should get word spread out pretty quick." Issei explains as he heads towards the village with a now much more hurried pace, as if eager to kick the daylight out of some poor guy. No really, he is already slamming a fist into his open palm, anxiously.
Not normally someone who was overly aggressive, Ryo had not anticipated the idea of beating up some poor shmuck to get the word out on the street. Either way he was not in charge for the mission. He followed along besides Issei waiting for the first low life they could find. He was pretty sure there would be at least someone deserving of it. Probably some purse snatcher or a low life bandit trying to ransom off passage of a bridge or something.
Issei was always aggressive. There was no point to hide it, and the thought of beating a poor shmuk apparently didn't bother him at all. But they didn't run into one of those yet, so he just keeps on walking, either they run into their mark or well, some bad guy. Didn't matter either way.
Not long after the two enter into the village, there is a small disturbance. It seemed some guy running a shop cart was being hassled by another. As the two got closer, they could hear the hassler say in a stern voice, "Pay up, there will not be another warning." The shop keeper then tells the man to take a hike or he will signal the guards.
Ryo spots the two and nudges Issei. He was surprised to see a shop keeper getting worked over inside the village, but it was not that unbelievable. Ryo remains silent though. He had no intentions of blowing the mission by saying something and drawing attention.
"Katon: Great Fireball Technique." Those were the only words Issei had said when he saw the unraveling scene. And what words there were. A giant ball of fire quickly billowed out from his mouth, and through the ring made by his fingers, and towards the one hassling the shopkeeper. This was Issei. No mercy. No warning. And probably no regret.
"What about our welcome? Ha? HA!?" He points a finger to the guy he fireball'd and says, "His kind listens to -us- now. Or they'll end up like him."
Ryo watched as the guy was set on fire by the fireball. He also watched him take off running. He was certain this would draw the attention of the guards. Either way he stood there with Issei. The boy then looked towards the shop keeper.
So this was Issei's idea of getting people's attention. It seemed to work, though they were suppose to be discrete. Was he planning on running from the guards and proving himself that way, or were they working against the clock and trying to get some information from one of the thugs watching? Ryo was not too sure.
Issei looks around for more of those thugs, if they were there. "Alright, who's their leader? I wanna talk to him." Issei exclaims as he looks from shopkeeper to people staring at him, and hopefully so before the guards come. Though he seems to stand a tiny bit in front of Ryo, protectively, but still right next to him, so that it's clear that he's a comrade. Or something. Either way, not a pushover. Issei wants to look tough.
As Ryo watched the shop keepers, he noticed Issei standing slightly out in front of him. He still is not moving though his hand moves to the hilt of his shin gunto blade. As his eyes then travelled through the crowd starting to gather, one of the shop keepers spoke up.
"Outside the village to the north. There is a small hut along the river. You will find him there." It seemed like the the keeper was happy Issei intervened before he was roughed up. After that the keeper returns to looking and fixing the position of his wares.
Issei looked towards the shopkeeper that finally spoke up and then snapped his fingers, "Alrigh' that was easy." He looks to Ryo, "Come." He says, and begins heading outside the village, and then towards the north as indicated, once a safe distance away he says to Ryo, "Well, that worked out kinda well. Don't you think?"
After following behind Issei outside of the village, the boy nodded his head. "Yeah, that worked real well. Why would the village not deal with this guy? I mean this is a long way from home. Yet our village is more concerned than the village that he's feeding off of." Ryo stated. He was almost sure it meant in some way that they would be enemies of Kusagakure. That maybe this rogue was in bed with them somehow.
"Who knows. Back during the Clan Wars I rarely heard of a strong or reknown shinobi from the land of grass." Issei explains, "Perhaps they are just too scared of him. Besides, this might not even be our guy, just some stupid gang leader or something. But we'll get to him. People know I use Ninjutsu, I have no forehead protector, the most logical thing to assume is I am unafilliated." He chuckles and slams a fist into his open palm again. "Either way, we are close now."
"Clan wars?" Ryo asked. He had heard of them but rarely did people actually talk about them. There is a nod of the head from the boy. He wasnt sure this was the guy either but how could a ninja village be scared of one rogue? Were they really that weak in the land of Grass?
As the duo walked down the road, eventually they would come upon the stream. There was a rather large hut off in the distance. There were even a few guards standing out front. There were likely more to be standing in back and possibly even a few on patrol, depending on how large the operation was.
"Yeah. The Clan Wars. You were still a kid back then; I'm not that much older than you, but I fought in them." Issei explains to Ryo, and then looks towards the hut in the distance. "Looks like this might be our guy. Well, we're supposed to take care of his 'forces' too. Suppose that'll take care of itself soon enough." He doesn't even try to hide or anything but instead just walks in plain sight towards the hut.
Ryo followed behind Issei as he walked towards the hut. He's not worried about being seen or attacked. He figured Issei would be able to take care of most attacks by the bandits. "Here we go." the boy states. He grips the hilt of his blade a little bit tighter. He was preparing for the battle ahead. There was no turning back now.
As the bandits see the two approaching the hut, one of them stepped forward and drew a blade from his side. "Stop where you are!" the first guy yelled. The second turned around and entered the hut.
"Stop? We just came here." Issei exclaims to the guard, but does stop and holds out a hand subtly for Ryo to do the same, "Who's your boss? Is he here? We got a proposition for him." Issei says, gesturing with his hands to emphasize his point. His point is, his hand is clenched into a fist threateningly, as if saying 'and you better do it'.
Issei glances to Ryo and indicates with his eyes to keep an eye out for sneakers.
Ryo stopped as the hand is placed out in front of him. His eyes scan from side to side to make sure they do not get flanked. He was not worried about the front, but only the sides and behind him. Though his eyes do not look behind him, he is using his other senses to make sure people do not sneak up on them, mainly his hearing.%
The man with the sword turns around and knocks on the door. The door then opens and the other guard returns, drawing his sword the first then makes his move inside the building. After a few moments he returns to the front of the hut. "State your proposition." It was obvious the man had just gotten permission from inside the hut. Whomever was calling the shots was in the hut.
"Huh, like that?" Issei asks as the man returns and instead of the leader gets… this. "How about I not burn you into a crisp. Ever heard of Honor Among Thieves? I want to talk to your leader, not you, punk." Issei exclaims and crosses his arms, waiting for a reply. Of course, the arm is no longer there to stop Ryo, so he's basically free to do whatever he wishes.
Ryo noticed the hand no longer there. He took a step back after the words from Issei. He was hoping that his step back would get the guards to believe Issei was not bluffing. He then draws his blade half way out of the sheath at his side.
The guards both draw their blades. "Speak and the boss will hear you." The first guard states. They both seem slightly shaken but seem to stand their ground for the moment.
"Ha, so he is running? Funny that." Issei looks back to Ryo, "I'll leave these clowns to you." And then Issei's hand pressed into a seal right in front of his lips and he shimmered and then disappeared from sight- his aim was to body flicker to where he heard the door open, and confront whoever it was trying to leave, or whatever they were doing.
Ryo smiled as Issei left. The boy fully drew his weapon. "Oh no…" There was a slight look of fear on Ryo's face for a brief moment. Then it turned into one of joy. The nine year old was about to fight two fully grown men. Despite Issei getting the prize, Ryo would settle for the door men. How tough could they be?
After Issei vanishes, the two door guards start to smile at their luck. They must have figured fighting a nine year old was a lot like fighting a baby bear cub. The two of them rush forward, both of them yelling as they aimed to slash at the boy. Their screams would alert anyone else in the area.
As for Issei, he would appear infront of the rogue Kiri shinobi. The shinobi had already made some hand signs and now there was water shooting forth from behind him. It was rushing directly towards Issei.
As soon as Issei appeared and he saw, with his own eyes no less, the seals and the water dragon, he immediately faded out from view once again and narrowly escaped the Water Dragon.
"A smart one." Issei said as he reappeared above, fuuma shuriken in hand and ready to be thrown at his opponent, which he does. He throws it at the rogue shinobi and then follows it through with a small orb of lightning— mostly because Issei knew fully well that Water had an elemental advantage over fire. After the Orb, Issei disappeared again, and this time it was the body flicker strike variation.
Ryo stepped back and as both of the guards slashed downwards with their blades, he moved forward with a single kick to hit both of their faces. "You guys thud. Does he actually pay you, or is this volunteer work?" The boy then moves forward aiming a single slash at the first guard before stepping between the two and hitting the second guard with the hilt of his blade.
The slash to the first guard was fairly light. He responded by picking his weapon back up and aiming another slash at the boy. The second guy was hunched over by the hilt to the gut. He remained there momentarily.
Tsorai vanished before the shuriken or the lightning could hit him. Soon there were three of the man. Each one creating a wall of water behind them. It was clear, Tsorai was trying to run away.
Issei was left with a tactical choice he had to make, and a fairly quick one. On one hand, if he were to run out of chakra with an assault, not only does he leave himself open for counter assault, but he can't intercept Tsorai anymore. On the other hand, Tsorai couldn't run forever.
"So be it." Issei said as he placed his hands together, focusing his chakra.
Ryo managed to step to the side of the blade attack allowing it to hit the other guard. The slash was deep into the back of the man. There was a pretty good chance he would never walk again. As the guard looked reasonably surprised to hit his own co-worker/buddy or whatever he called him, Ryo dropped his blade and formed some hand seals. "Great Fireball Jutsu!" At close range, both men were engulfed in the flames. "Shucks. I know, Issei ordered them crispy, not burnt." The boy then grabbed his blade and headed towards the back.
The water behind the clones of Tsorai starts to form into three large water dragons, each of which bursts forth towards Issei. The clones themselves remain there.
Issei flickers between the missiles, but one manages to catch him and send him flying for a couple of meters before Issei lands on his feet and skids across the ground, muttering something unintelligible about lightning and not his strong suit.
He charges forward once again, going through handseals before he unleashed a wide static cloud to encompass all of the clones at once before flickering out of view again to attempt to smash some of the clones around in close combat.
He doesn't know yet that Ryo is finished at his end too.
Ryo made his way to the back of the hut to find Issei fighting the clones. They seemed to be engulfed in a static cloud. Then as the cloud clears, it appears Issei was able to smash one and that allowed for a gap in the wall of water. Ryo draws his blade and looks towards the two remaining clones. They were starting to lose their form. "He is getting away! Go get him. I will deal with these clones and any other bandits I find!" The boy then lunged forward with a slash towards the first clone.
Issei looks to Ryo for a short moment and then nods and jumps through the gap in the water wall, and runs after the escaping mark, continually using Body Flicker Technique to catch up to him. But before he does do that, he calls back to Ryo, "Don't use fire against them, it's a waste of chakra."
The slash from the boy takes off the arm of one of the clones. The clone doesnt even move. Soon it just dissipates into water. Ryo glances towards the direction Issei left. "He must be really far if they are not moving. He can hardly control them anymore." He then turns towards the last clone and there is a look of shock on his face. It must be something he had seen.
The last clone was now holding a kunai and grinning at the boy. His blue eyes seemed to sparkle. He dashed to the side of the boy before tossing the kunai at him. His hands then moved extremely quick and another water dragon rushed outwards towards Ryo. "Right about now your buddy is going to find my clone. Then he'll rush back here as quick as he can cause I fooled him. It will be too late for you. Maybe he will not even show up. That flash technique will drain his chakra."
As Issei catches up to the Tsorai, it simply dissipates into water. He had been chasing after the wrong one all along.
Issei wasn't really surprised by this turn-out. Yeah, sure, it was a clone, nothing Issei hadn't accounted for, but Ryo said earlier he can handle it, and as a Chuunin, Issei had no doubt in his mind that Ryo will do just fine. After all, Ryo had a certain something.
It was with this thought that Issei made his way back at a slower pace, sparing his chakra reserves and only occasionally using the body-flicker technique as he headed back.
Surprise or not, Issei was still pretty angry about this.
The eyes of Ryo become wide as he realized what just happened. He was left all alone with a guy who seemed to be on par with Issei. "Well, lets just hope your better than your guards were. I sure hope you did not pay them." the boy stated before lunging to the side to avoid the water dragon. As he stood up and looked towards the man, his single tomoe sharingan was now activated. After three clones and multiple water dragon jutsu, the guy had to be low on chakra. There was no way he could have had a lot more in the tank. Ryo decided it was best to keep him busy. Issei would be back soon enough.
Lunging forward, Ryo made several strikes towards the man, each with his blade. He was certain that his fire style would be useless against the guy.
Tsorai simply side steps the first attack though the second one barely cuts him. A shield of water then surrounds him nullifying the third and final strike. "An Uchiha? My my, I must be drawing quite a bit of attention." Then Tsorai makes some more hand signs and water begins to rise up from the ground to surround Ryo in a water style prison.
Finally running into the scene to spot Ryo and the guy fighting, Issei barked a command at Ryo; There was no such look of 'oh I am glad you're safe' or 'You still live?'. No concern, or at least apparently so. "That's right, keep the pressure on him. Tire him out!"
Following suit, Issei threw a kunai at his opponent and immediately flickered next to him to deliver a mighty kick and then attempt to smash a elbow in his face.
Issei didn't try to intercept the water prison at all, hoping that Ryo can handle that.
Ryo attempted to dodge the water prison but a portion of him managed to get caught in the water. It was his arm. The boy offered a grin as Issei showed up. It now meant the target was about to go down. Ryo did not respond with a cheer or anything. He simply watched the attack go towards the man. On the inside, he was more than glad though.
As Tsorai's water prison began to engulf the boy, a kunai struck him breaking the technique. He then surrounded himself with water allowing himself to avoid the rest of Issei's attacks. "Damn." is all he said. It was true, he was nearly out of chakra. It was time for him to look for an escape.
Issei watched the kunai fly through the air and strike his targets as was intended, "This is the end of the road, Taka Tsorai. Death has come to claim you."
Issei makes a seal and closes his eyes, and for a moment it looks like he's gonna use his kekkei genkai or something, but the anticipation fails to deliver as the one hand-seal turns into many more and finally Issei exclaims, "Perish. RAITON: RAIKOUHIRA!" And then follows several balls of lightning shot from the palm of Issei's hand, all aimed at Tsorai.
Good at it or not, lightning is useful!
Now as the water prison faded and Issei was on the attack, Ryo dropped his blade and formed a few signs of his own. "Great fireball jutsu!" Yes, the boy had been told not to use firestyle, but it was his strongest ninjutsu. After that, the boy grabs his blade an uses it in an attempt to slice Tsorai up the center. "Die." is all the boy says.
Tsorai's water shield only serves to get him electrocuted. As the man falls to his knees he is hit by a rather weak fireball. It serves slightly more than to fry his skin beyond that of a very bad tan. He is then struck by a blade, though the cut is light. He hits the ground in pain, his eyes still open. "Bastards…"
"Bastards we are. Unknown. Unyielding. Unending. But we came to end you. For whatever reason you have betrayed the trust placed in you and threw away the training- despite your village being my enemy, it is disgraceful. Accept your fate and this burial:" Issei tells Tsorai as he falls to the ground and now Issei stands over him, hands perform quick seals and Issei finally exclaims, "KATON: ENDAN!" And then comes burning oil straight out of his mouth, and there is a -lot- of it, compared to what Issei had shown Ryo earlier. The flames started by the weakish fireball before would only be fanned and consumed to create larger ones from the burning oil.
That was the end of Taka Tsorai. He was burned to ash. Not even his forehead protector survived. Ryo watched as Issei delivered the final blow and the body began to burn. Soon his own sharingan faded back to normal eyes. "We really should get going. I would hate for the smoke to draw nearby shinobi, if they are not already on their way." Ryo glanced towards the river that seemed to lead away from the village. He then pointed that way. "Shall we?" he asks.
Issei stood over the burning and ash remains of Tsorai for a long moment, Issei's hardened face not revealing any emotion. There was no hesitation nor mercy in his act. But after it, it seemed like he was showing a bit of regret, or something very painfully close to that. If what Issei said earlier was true about his involvement in the Clan Wars, he has seen many a scene like this. Finally he looks to Ryo and pats his head, "You did well, little Brother. I am proud of you. Let's get out of here."
